The importance of undertaking and disseminating research is central to the mission and vision of Rennes School of Business. Research builds on the skills of our faculty and develops specific knowledge that impacts businesses and students whilst contributing to the development and enrichment of educational programmes for both students and executives. Research is also an essential vector for building partnerships and managing and communicating Rennes School of Business’ image and skills.
Dr Sarah Robinson (Associate Dean for research)
Our research strategy
The research agenda of Rennes School of Business (Rennes SB) is primarily focused on rethinking business creation and management in response to the unprecedented wave of major transitions experienced during the last three decades. These transitions, together with the covid health crisis, mean that established wisdom has been strongly shaken, creating a need to rethink business management and public policy and to engage in “unframed thinking” (the motto of Rennes SB). The current strategy springs from these bases, which are consistent with the research trends and the initial ambitions of Rennes SB.
These bases are enlarged to incorporate two major axes:
- The first axis places a focus on the international dimension of ongoing and global transitions. To give some concrete examples: neither decarbonisation nor digitalisation makes sense within the borders of a single country. Digital platforms are accessible from anywhere in the world, the associated indirect network effects work indiscriminately, and there is a universal CO2 stock causing global warming everywhere. In this context, international cooperation should be an essential target, but the failures of the successive COP conferences and the fierce ongoing battle over 5G technology clearly demonstrate that competition is still the rule. As such, geopolitics is of essential importance and sovereignty is a keyword. Elaboration of sustainable cooperation schemes under sovereignty constraints is an open and daunting task.
- The second axis of expansion is uncertainty and risk control. The ongoing Covid crisis, which is itself partly an ecological crisis, has shown the extent to which supply chains are vulnerable to emerging diseases. Uncertainty can quickly take on radical proportions (or Knightian to use the language of decision theory), even in domains in which humanity has made substantial progress over the two last centuries. Risk management (including disaster risk management) will be of key importance over the next decades and Rennes SB has taken a step forward to invest in this essential domain. Connected to risk and uncertainty, the notion of security (also at all levels) will regain momentum. Security is intricately related to geopolitics at the international level but also has a counterpart at the individual level when, for example, privacy is threatened by digitalisation.
Research
The research at Rennes SB is organised into:
- The Research Lab, a hub which supports the researchers on a daily basis and organises research activities.
- The PhD programme which prepares top students for careers in research.
- 5 research centres working on current issues.
– Agribusiness (AGR)
– AI-Driven Business (AI)
– Green, Digital & Demand-driven Supply Chain Management (G3D)
– Rethinking Tomorrow’s Organisation (RTO)
– Financial Market & Corporate Outcomes (FMCO)
– The Institute for Advanced Study: The Centre for Unframed Thinking (CUT) is an initiative by Rennes School of Business and its partners to foster broad interdisciplinary research at the highest international level to contribute to the global research effort in order to cope with the numerous deep issues raised by the ongoing massive worldwide transitions.
The research department is headed by Dr Sarah Robinson (Associate Dean for Research) and supported by:
– Karine Milhorgne – Internal affairs officer
– Christèle Wright – External affairs officer
